Packed and Prepped

Things are still ticking along here on the farm, though admittedly it has been mostly indoor activities as of late.  Yesterday I packed up our hospital bag so we are ready for when the time comes.  Who knows when this kid will decide to make his appearance!

The Season of Light

After spending a good portion of today decorating our tree, Liam declared it to be "the most beautiful thing in the world".  It seems that we did well.

The boys worked hard hanging all the kid-friendly decorations
in a ring around the bottom of the tree.

Grandma put on all the fragile decorations and evened everything out. 
My stomach kept getting between me and the tree.

Ian put the star on top and voila: the finished product.

Let there be light!

Our tree is indeed beautiful but it was rivalled by this evening's spectacular sunset.  Mother Nature at her best.

It truly is the season of light both inside and out.

Just the Right Height

The boys have been itching to get a Christmas tree for weeks now.  With the mild temperatures and beautiful sunshine, today was the perfect day to make this happen.

We all had our tree hunting jobs.  Liam was responsible for evaluating "green-ness", Seamus for prickliness, and Mom and Dad for height and fullness.

This is the one!

TIMBER!  Good job with the saw Daddy!

All hands on deck to lug this beast out of the forest.

Waiting for the hay ride to bring us back to the car.

Happy with our choice.

Giving it a good shake.

It turns out that our tree is exactly the right height. 
We will have to trim the tallest branch the tiniest little bit to get the star on but that is totally doable.

Lights and decorations are tomorrow's jobs.  The boys are so excited.

A Bit on the Dry Side

We have been so lucky to have my paternal grandma (GG) come spend the past few Christmases with us here on the farm.  This year she has decided to stay home for the holidays.  While this is disappointing for us, I can completely understand given the veritable cesspool of germs I have been for the past month and a half, not to mention the frequent colds and snuffles the boys will surely continue to come down with and the uncertainty of our pending new arrival.

Every holiday season I do a plethora of Christmas baking which is overshadowed by the delicious goodies that GG brings along.  I love GG's baking as much as the rest of the family so I am not at all put out to devour her squares and tarts and leave mine in the freezer for another day.  This year, however, it seems that with no better options available, my baking will actually make it to the dinner table.

So far we have chocolate chip cookies, ginger molasses cookies, shortbread, turtle brownies, and chocolate brownies ready to go.  Today, Seamus and I whipped up my first ever batch of GG's pineapple cake with cream cheese icing.  This is one item that she always brings and it just would not be the same without it.

Since I have never made this particular cake before, I divided the recipe in two - half to try for dessert tonight (in case it turns out awful) and half for the freezer.  I simply could not add the two cups of sugar that the recipe called for so I cut it down to 1.5 cups (which I still think is a lot).  I also added 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes - because, why not?

CAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar
3 medium eggs (or 2 large)
1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained

CREAM CHEESE ICING
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes.

The final product was certainly good and similar to GG's, though I think I over baked it; it was a bit dry.  Luckily there was lots of icing to help wash it down.  That's the thing with baking the family classics like date squares, butter tarts and pineapple cake - I can make them all well, but they never taste as good as GG's.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

If nothing else, my kombucha trials are facilitating meeting the neighbours. After sterilizing our jars (again) and buying brand new cheese cloth to cover the tops, Seamus and I brewed two new batches of sweet black tea and then headed out to visit Mrs. Christine to obtain, yes, you guessed it, more SCOBYs.  

SCOBY is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast.
It is the home of the bacteria and yeast that transform sweet tea into tangy, fizzy kombucha. 

Upon returning home with our new SCOBYs and some starter kombucha from Mrs. Christine's SCOBY hotel, we combined everything together and placed it all next to the stove (the warmest spot in the kitchen).  Hopefully these batches take. We will know in a few weeks!

Today's second kitchen activity involved cleaning out the fridge to make "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Soup.  Nothing (except lettuce) was safe from this soup.  Everything from tonight's taco leftovers to last week's venison pot roast to frozen Brussels sprouts to bacon remnants from sausage making night to the last few garden carrots we dug up last weekend went into the pot.

With three jars for the freezer and two for the fridge, we are set for lunches for the next while.  As an added bonus, my fridge is now much emptier than it was this afternoon!

A 6.3 lb Bun

Our bun is still in the oven but today we got another sneak peak at him.  It is hard to believe that we first saw this baby way back in June.  Back then he looked very much like a peanut.

10 weeks (June 18, 2018)

12 weeks (July 6, 2018)

14 weeks (July 19, 2018)

16.5 weeks (August 7, 2018)

20 weeks (September 4, 2018)

34 weeks (December 11, 2018)

Now he is so big that he hardly fits on the screen - you can see his head, nose and chin.  Our baby now weighs an estimated 6.3 lbs and is in the 90th percentile (of course he is).  He is measuring almost a week ahead of our estimated due date of January 19, 2019.   He is positioned cross ways across my stomach with his head on my right side and his bum on my left side.  His arms and legs are dangling down.   The ultrasound confirmed that he is still very much a boy.  All looks to be well, though it seems I have a few weeks to go yet while he gains even more weight (yikes!).  Liam and Seamus were both 10 lb babies so I have feeling I know where all of this is headed.  Hopefully the third time is a charm!

Sunset Salutations

The farm animals were in for an early bedtime this evening so we could head out to the boys' skating lessons.  Cobalt and Charlie pass along their sunset salutations.  They were too cute not to share.

A lamb's smile.

Charlie's happy ears.

The 4:00 pm sunset on the farm.